Cignetti Likely Won’t Announce Starting Quarterback Decision, But His Comments are Revealing

Heading into his first fall camp as Indiana’s head football coach, Curt Cignetti hasn’t officially named a starting quarterback. But between Kurtis Rourke and Tayven Jackson, his comments lean more favorably in one direction.

Indiana Hoosiers head coach Curt Cignetti looks on during the Indiana football spring game at Memorial Stadium on Thursday, April 18, 2024. / Bobby Goddin/Herald-Times / USA TODAY

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Curt Cignetti’s success with quarterbacks is one of the main reasons Indiana athletic director Scott Dolson hired the former James Madison coach.

During Cignetti’s first season coaching the Dukes in 2019, quarterback Ben DiNucci was named 2019 CAA Offensive Player of the Year. Cole Johnson won the same award in 2021. And when James Madison moved up from the FCS to the FBS, quarterback Todd Centeio earned 2022 Sun Belt Offensive Player of the Year honors. 

Just last season, Jordan McCloud was the Sun Belt Player of the Year. Each of those quarterbacks played a different style, but Cignetti showed adaptability alongside offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan and co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Tino Sunseri, who came with Cignetti from James Madison to Indiana.

Maintaining that high standard of quarterback play is crucial as Cignetti rebuilds Indiana. He added three quarterbacks this offseason – Ohio transfer Kurtis Rourke and true freshmen Tyler Cherry, ranked No. 14 among quarterbacks in the 2024 class, and Alberto Mendoza, ranked 84th. They will join returning redshirt sophomore Tayven Jackson, who started five games and appeared in six last season.

Rourke seems to have a leg up on the competition, based on Cignetti’s comments, but the starter likely won’t become public until the first snap on Aug. 1 against Florida International.

“I’ve never seen the value of really naming a starter,” Cignetti said Thursday at Big Ten Media Days. “Our first year in the Sun Belt, Todd Centeio came from Colorado State and we trotted him out for the first start of the first game and never named a starter.” 

Cignetti promoted competition within that group during the spring and summer months, and that’s not changing. 

“I feel really good about Kurtis Rourke,” Cignetti said. “I think Tayven Jackson has improved but needs to keep improving in terms of his preparation and processing and playing quarterback at a high level. I’m talking about the mental part of it and decision making, but he’s made some significant progress. And we’ve got two young guys that we like. So I want to promote competition at every position.” 

Cignetti said he always makes the transfer portal quarterback decision, and he chose well in landing DiNucci from Pittsburgh, Centeio from Colorado State and McCloud from Arizona. He called Rourke “the best out there for us” and was drawn to his experience and track record of production.

Rourke joins the Hoosiers with 33 career starts under his belt. He earned All-MAC second-team honors in 2023, completing 195-of-307 passes (63.5%) for 2,207 yards, 11 touchdowns and five interceptions in 11 games. The previous season was his best statistically, as he threw for 3,256 yards, 25 touchdowns and just four interceptions.

“I thought he had a really good spring, a great summer,” Cignetti said. “I sleep better at night knowing I've got a guy like that that's played that many games.”

Jackson was a highly touted recruit out of Center Grove High School in Greenwood, Ind., given a four-star label and ranked No. 13 among class of 2022 quarterbacks by the 247Sports Composite. But after attempting just four passes in three games as a freshman at Tennessee, he transferred to Indiana in January, when his brother, Trayce Jackson-Davis, was in the midst of an All-American basketball season with the Hoosiers.

Former Indiana coach Tom Allen flipped between Jackson and Brendan Sorsby at quarterback last season before sticking with Sorsby for the final six games. Sorsby transferred to Cincinnati following the season. Jackson finished the year completing 78-of-128 passes for 914 yards, two touchdowns and five interceptions.

Rourke, Jackson and Cherry suited up for the spring game in April, which came with mixed results. Rourke went 19-for-30 (63.3%) for 124 yards and a touchdown that night and didn’t lead a scoring drive until his third possession. But he looked more polished as the game went on, and Cignetti felt there’s more to Rourke’s game that wasn’t revealed publicly in the spring.

Jackson’s spring game played out in the opposite manner. He marched the Hoosiers down the field for touchdowns on his first two drives but ran into trouble later. He finished the spring game completing 10-of-14 passes (71.4%) for 160 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Cherry went 1-for-3 for eight yards.

Fall camp begins next week in Bloomington, and the full scope of the quarterbacks’ performances will certainly be taken into account – not just what everyone saw in the spring game, of course. But there appears to be a leading candidate as the Hoosiers approach their season opener under Cignetti.

“I’m not necessarily looking to get him (Rourke) beat out because he had a really good spring,” Cignetti said Thursday. “He didn’t really get a chance to show it in the spring game. Sometimes it’s like the first quarter and a half of a game, you gotta have the opportunities to show what you can do. He had a great summer. When we went back, we watched all of our spring cut ups offensively, and the more I watched him, just the more impressed I was.”

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